How to clean chrome?

I just got an 81 Yamaha 750 that has been sitting for a while. The forks and
rear fender have some rust on them. What is the best way to clean them
without having to re-chrome?
Thanks
Bob

 

i've heard coca cola and aluminum foil. never tried it, just heard
about it. could be an urban legend, guess i'll have to check snopes.

 

Chrome polish contains a mild abrasive mixed with petroleum distillate,
and the abrasive rubs away on the rust and abrades the chrome that's
left, so the chrome gets thinner and thinner. The petroleum distillate
oils the bare spot where the rust popped through the chrome and it
won't look rusty for a while...

I was watching a guy using very fine steel wool on his Honda's exhaust
pipes and i asked him what the Hell he was doing that for. He said that
the fine steel wool removed rust *without* removing chrome.

I dunno if that's true or not. It's still be necessary to OIL the
places where the rust was, or new rust will pop out again...

 

I remember some old timers used to use kerosene to help remove rust. I
guess that is what might be the distillate in the chrome polish??

Davehd

 

It's not. I tried it once, many moons ago. It scratches chrome to hell.

 

Certainly steel wool is softer than ceramic abrasive.

 

Well, kerosene is pretty close to what petroleum distillate is. (1) It
has about the right amount of "oiliness" to get the job on keeping the
oxygen away from the rust pits. Diesel would be too oily for that
purpose. Road dirt would stick to diesel worse than it sticks to
kerosene. If you wipe motorcycle surfaces down with kerosene, you have
to follow with a dry cloth to wipe most of it off, too, if you want to
avoid dust sticking to that area.

WD40 is a convenient rust preventer that doesn't seem to attract dust
like kerosene would. The Material Safety Data Sheets for WD40 show that
it has a specific gravity about the same as #2 diesel fuel, so it's
quite a bit thicker than kerosene. But you could probably get a gallon
of kerosene a lot cheaper than a gallon of WD40...

(1)I once had a discussion with a smart-aleck about WD40. I said that
it was just "petroleum distillate". Mr. Smart Guy said that everything
that came off a crude oil distillation column could be called
"petroleum distillate". That's true, whether it's straight run
gasoline, kerosene, diesel, or asphalt. The "white gas" would just dry
everything out, it would be too thin, the diesel would be too sticky
and oily, and the asphalt would be gooey and black.

 

I use 0000 steel wool all the time. Never had a problem. I usually
follow it up with a thin layer of chrome polish to retard further
corrosion.

 

I have been using light grade steelwool since my 65 mustang. Never
fails.

 

Over the years, I've used crumpled aluminum foil with water, as well as
steel wool, to remove light rust from chrome. The advantage to both is
that the metal is harder than iron oxide (rust), but softer than
chromium and won't scratch it. A good coat of wax seems to help reduce
the rusting afterward without collecting dust, dirt and grit (as oil
will).

Eliyahu
96 GS500e

 

Yep again

<VVBG>

 

Brasso.

 

Dunno if you guys watch Mythbusters or not, but if so, Aluminium foil
and Cola is definitely the way to go!

 

soap & water, sos - brillo pad. then, spray paint entire fender with
clear lacquer.

 

I like a well worn scotchbrite pad and brasso.

rj